Yesterday, Dan Steinberg wrote in the Washington Post's D.C. Sports Blog that Arenas' teammate DeShawn Stevenson had written "Agent Zero" (Arenas' nickname) on his ankle tape in Sunday's game and reported that Washington Wizards staff had confiscated "Free Gil" posters at the Verizon Center -- updates stated that Wizards PR staff admit that a security guard acting on his own accord had confiscated an Arenas poster.
Arenas did not have a public relations response, but rather made himself into a clown and made a mockery of public relations in general.
The NBA's response to the allegations surrounding Gilbert Arenas have been widely scrutinized -- an original inaction by the league office, followed by inabilities to curb the news story, followed by attempts to hide the story, and, for now, ending with an indefinite suspension and a multitude of questions left to be answered.
Rather than sculpting their response around a picture of Arenas as a rogue ball player (forgetting Javaris Crittenton altogether) -- a measure that leagues ALWAYS rely on -- in an attempt to diffuse a larger picture discussion, why not in a moment of proactivity admit to a -- real or not -- element of gun violence that permeates throughout the league, but more importantly throughout a culture that the NBA speaks to?
This "skeletons in the closet" doctrine of public relations can only be successful to an extent; ultimately the door is going to break and a profligatory portrait is going to be painted.
The NBA expects the public, once it has outcasted Arenas and the news story dies, to move past the incident and resume its normal fanhood. By diffusing and moving on, the NBA faces a not dissimilar journey to Tiger Woods.
With Tiger Woods return, either freshly divorced or not, the public will be left circumventing both fact and fiction while clinging to the remnants of one of sports' all-time dominant athletes. It will be expected that Tiger is accepted back into a conflicting golf culture by a generation of fans he molded and by a generation of fans that perhaps never accepted him and him as the catalyst for the game's changes; Tiger Woods Inc. will likely expect this, as will his endorsers, as will the PGA Tour, as will the game in general.
By remaining silent in the shadows of tabloid dreams, Tiger Woods continues to dehumanize himself in the midst of the most humanizing period of his (private and public) life. Vice, ostentatiousness, remorse, personal struggle, and demons are at the foreground of life; where we (fans) long for our superstars to be better than we are -- to fit into some exemplification of idealism/exceptionalism -- we also crave for those humanized moments: the losses, the tears, the scandals. Tiger's PR model has been to save grace by broadcasting him in such depths of regret that he's neither fit for public eyes nor concerned with anything aside from saving his family.
From an idealistic perspective there needs to be some connection with fans that, frankly, allows for some healing of a wounded relationship, from a pragmatic perspective the news story needs to be controlled when it can be. As there seems to be a widespread belief that Elin is going to ditch Tiger and head back to Sweden, what would be the fan response, today, if a post on TigerWoods.com read:
I'm doing what I can to save my family; I don't want my children growing up in a broken home. My apologies to Elin will never make up for what I've done, but for now they're what I have.And, next week a post read:
I'm not certain that our marriage can survive the things that I've done, but I'm not going to back away from it. I took advantage of Elin and what I've done will forever embarrass my children, but I'm not ready for this to be its final chapter.Why not be candid? Why not accept a forever change (maybe transmogrification) of an image and seize an opportunity to be human, not robotic, to have a face, not to be a corporate face?
Silence is a poisonous tree methodology.
Side Note:
I'll admit that I have presented conflicting perspectives on Tiger Woods, but, truthfully, it's because I'm conflicted. Where I wish he would have made a rare stop in Hawaii this past weekend in the SBS Championship and resumed his quest for history, I don't believe that a brash return would be in his long-term best interests or in the best-interests of golf and the PGA Tour. Tiger needs to save face if he doesn't want biographical book-jackets to mention the scandal in the third sentence, if he doesn't want to be a punch line as Wilt Chamberlain's 10,000 women are, and if the PGA Tour is to resume its exponential growth amidst a changed economic climate. But, I want to watch his mastery at work again, as soon as he'll be able to illustrate it again.
Soap Box Rant:
Regarding the NBA and Gilbert Arenas, there are the unmistakable racial undertones and supposed "hip hop" culture that NBA critics cite perpetuates throughout the league. Where many issues with similar black/white considerations may be an accurate lens, a racial perspective need not necessarily be the commanding perspective. Yet, the reluctance of the mainstream media/entertainment industry to give a racial lens its due platform seems persistent in the world of politically correct oversights -- where the fear of a Pandora's Box of racial considerations dominates the discussion.
While athletes should not be used as pawns of social change, sport most certainly can be a beacon of social responsibility and an instrument of social progress. In 2006, there were nine White deaths per 100,000 Americans by firearm, while there were 20 African American deaths by firearm per 100,000 Americans -- while African Americans only comprised 12.3 percent of the population, as opposed to 74.3 percent for Whites (Census).
The NBA's culture has an unquestionable African American influence, if not the predominant influence. Where the NBA collective bargaining agreement permits NBA players to legally own firearms, it does not permit them on NBA or team property. Why can't the NBA take measures to stem the tide of gun violence in this country, most specifically amongst the African American community, through policy and community relations?
Inevitably, any controversy surrounding an athlete is exacerbated by the "a hero is failing children" proclivity; a notion of "athletes as heroes" that professional sports has long exploited for its gain. With the election of Barack Obama, a conversation ensued that Black mothers may now take their child's hand and lead them to Obama as a Black role-model; a generation of young Black men may now have a like-raced hero that wasn't an athlete or entertainer (for some reason, Colin Powell and -- ugh -- Condoleeza Rice didn't fill the need).
It all relates to an ultimate discussion of heroism and leadership; the league can't permeate sentiments of responsibility and role-model-ship to its fans while remaining steadfast in its alienation of social concerns.
Photo(s): Washington Wizards Huddle
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